Department for Education

Update on the Lifetime Skills Guarantee

Baroness Berridge: The Lifetime Skills Guarantee announced by the Prime Minister in September promises to help people across the country get the skills they need at every stage of their life as we build back better from the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, the Prime Minister announced the expansion of Skills Bootcamps, which are currently available in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and the Liverpool City Region. These flexible courses last approximately 12-16 weeks, and give participants the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer. I am now pleased to announce that Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, the Heart of the South West, and the Leeds City Region have today opened course registrations ahead of beginning delivery in January. These bootcamps will expand to cover not only digital skills like software development, digital marketing, and data analytics but also technical skills training such as welding, engineering, and construction. This is only the start for this innovative approach to adult training. I can confirm that we will invest £43m through the National Skills Fund to extend Skills Bootcamps further across the country in 2021 increasing the national coverage of this new offer and trailblazing new skills to support our labour market and develop this model further. We will continue to build on our wider plans for adult skills and I will update the House on our progress in due course. In the meantime, we will continue to engage closely with stakeholders as we progress and develop detailed plans for the National Skills Fund.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Housing Adaptations Update

Lord Greenhalgh: My Hon. Friend, the Minister for rough sleeping and housing (Kelly Tolhurst) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement:I am delighted to announce that the Government is releasing an additional £68 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant in England. This funding boost for 2020-21 will help local authorities to provide more home adaptations and bolsters the £505 million that Government already paid to local authorities for the Disabled Facilities Grant in May, raising the headline total for the grant to £573 million this financial year.I recognise that following the outbreak of Covid-19, local authorities have continued to display excellence, innovation, and resilience in maintaining the delivery of essential services under very challenging circumstances. The Disabled Facilities Grant can play a critical role in both preventing hospital and care home admissions and supporting smoother discharge from hospital. This additional £68 million in Disabled Facilities Grant funding will enable local authorities to deliver more home adaptations for those people with disabilities who qualify.I am pleased to confirm that Spending Review 2020 includes an investment of £573 million in Disabled Facilities Grant funding for 2021-22, bringing Government’s investment into the Disabled Facilities Grant to over £4 billion since 2010. This further outlines our continued commitment to help older and disabled people to live independently and safely, and will provide some welcome certainty to local authorities as they plan their budgets for the coming financial year.The additional funding for 2020-21 is being provided by the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Better Care Fund and will be paid by my Department to London Boroughs, Unitary Authorities, and County Councils on 9 December. In two tier areas, Counties must pass the appropriate Disabled Facilities Grant funding to their District councils.

Ministry of Defence

Update on Mali Deployment

Baroness Goldie: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence (The Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. I would like to provide an update to the statement made by my predecessor, the Right Honourable member for Portsmouth North, on 22 July 2019 (HCWS1779) in which we announced the Government’s intention to deploy a contribution from our Armed Forces to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). I can confirm that 300 UK personnel will have deployed to MINUSMA and completed required in-country quarantine by 22 December. The deployment comprises 250 troops from the Light Dragoons, the Royal Anglian Regiment and other attached personnel, and a further 50 forming a National Support Element. The UK has committed to a three-year deployment to MINUSMA, with a review to be held at the 18-month point. UK personnel will deploy on 6-month operational tours with a 2-week rest and recuperation break. Accordingly, the first deployment of Light Dragoons will be replaced by a second contingent led by the Royal Anglian Regiment and Queens Dragoon Guards in summer 2021. As the Foreign Secretary recently said, working alongside our development and diplomatic efforts, the UK’s military contribution to UN peacekeeping is a clear illustration of how our defence and security capabilities can contribute to the UK’s role as a force for good in the world. This deployment reflects our continued commitment to multilateralism and international peace and security, a responsibility we take seriously as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It is part of a wider Government response in support of progress towards long-term and sustainable stability in Mali and the Sahel. It will help to minimise the impact of violent conflict on UK interests and strengthen partnerships between the international community and Sahel governments to improve the overall response to the crisis. Mali is at the forefront of countries in West Africa affected by instability, with terrorist violence and conflict between communities sharply on the rise. The violence is costing lives, hindering development across one of the poorest countries in the world, and spreading to the wider region. Our contribution will provide critical capabilities to the UN mission at a vital time. We can have genuine impact on the mission’s overall approach, to help reduce the spread of conflict and insecurity, contribute to the protection of civilians, and build a sustainable peace. Led by the Swedish UN Mission Force Commander, Lt Gen Dennis Gyllensporre, we will be working alongside over 60 nations all contributing to MINUSMA. It is a truly global collaboration with contributions being made by West African nations in the region and our traditional western allies including Sweden, Germany, Canada, France and Ireland. The largest contingents of solders on MINUSMA will be coming from Guinea, Chad, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, and Egypt. The UK task force will be under the command of the Light Dragoons’ Commanding Officer, Lt Col Thomas Robinson. The task force is configured for reconnaissance with their initial objective to understand the operating environment in the area around Gao so that they are well placed to support the UN Mission. This will allow MINUSMA to better plan operations and deter and respond to threats. Our MINUSMA commitment complements existing distinct and separate commitments we have in the region, including helicopter support to the Operation BARKHANE (the French-led counter-terrorism initiative in Africa’s Sahel Region), and sits within wider UK Government seeking to build stability, and support the most vulnerable populations in the region.   This is dangerous mission. We have done all we can to mitigate the risk. Our forces are among the best in the world and they have the right training, equipment and preparation to succeed. I am confident that they will have a strong impact on the ground in Mali, will bolster our standing in the United Nations and will help us in our endeavours to make the UN and its peacekeeping missions as effective as possible.

Call-Out Order in Support of HMG’s Cyber and Electromagnetic Activities

Baroness Goldie: My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister of State for the Armed Forces (James Heappey MP) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. A new order has been made under section 56(1B) of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 to enable reservists to be called into permanent service to support HM Forces in connection to HMG’s cyber and electromagnetic activities (CEMA). CEMA involves the carrying out, synchronisation and coordination of offensive, defensive, inform and enabling activities, across the electromagnetic environment and cyberspace. Defence is committed to assisting HMG by the provision of experts in these domains from HM Forces. As part of this support, Reserve Forces will be on standby, as part of a Whole Force approach with Regular Forces and Partners Across Government, to deliver a range of Defence outputs such as (but not limited to): the reinforcement of Regular units by providing specialist and rare knowledge, skills and experience. The order shall take effect from the day on which it is made and shall cease to have effect 12 months from the date on which it is made.

Cabinet Office

Uprating of Election Spending Limits

Lord True: My Hon. Friend, the Minister of State for the Constitution and Devolution (Chloe Smith MP) has today made the following Written Statement:Elections rely upon political parties and candidates’ ability to communicate their views and commitments so that voters can make an informed decision. To this end, it is right that registered parties and nominated candidates can incur campaign expenditure, but it is also right that there are limits on this expenditure to ensure a level playing field. Many of the current statutory spending limits have not been changed since they were set out twenty years ago, with a small number raised more recently in 2014. This is a significant length of time, and has the effect of reducing the ability to campaign given inflationary costs of printing and communication.With elections scheduled for 6 May 2021, I am making this statement to outline the Government’s intention to raise the spending limits by inflation for candidates at local council elections in England in time for those May elections. This uplift would take into account the change in the value of money since these amounts were last changed and ensure that limits remain consistent with the initial intent of spending limits when considered by previous Parliaments. It makes no other substantive or real-terms change. I am keen to ensure that, where possible, parties are given notice of potential updates to electoral law well in advance of those elections. The Government is also mindful that the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic may result in a greater emphasis on postal and digital campaigning ahead of May’s elections; this adds to the case for limits to be updated and uprated.It is the Government’s intention to review party and candidate spending limits for all other polls (within the legislative competence of the UK Government) next year, with a view to uprating them in line with inflation since they were originally set. This will create a baseline for regular and consistent reviews of all limits in future. We will work with stakeholders, including the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Parties Panel, on this process.